I feel totally and wholly justified in asking questions and raising concerns because, guess what, the money I have invested in this company over a number of years PLUS more money thrown at it in the cap raise BUYS me a dress circle seat and the right to ask questions. This approach, Mr Duck, is very different from your months of belligerent and sustained monotone attacks on AJM before you had even invested a cent. I have already put my money where my mouth is. And whilst, I could have throttled you during those 'early' AJM days, because those of us who had piled in earlier, having already done the research on the coal issue and the Pilangoora assets, I couldn't deny that you were addressing pertinent issues. Why should it be any different here? Quid pro quo.
And it's not so easy to throw out a well-researched negative, as you well know. I become extremely uneasy when the general consensus of a forum disallows any criticism or, especially, when voicing valid concerns is tarred as downramping.
I sense what has happened here is that Vince, quite rightly, expected the share price to firm up last November off the back of the excellent metallurgical results. It didn't budge. Cause for huge concern and time for a change in direction. However, I did find it unsettling about 14 months ago when one of AVL's presentations specifically stated that the company was mainly targetting the rebar market with VRBs a distant second whilst the document also overtly hung much hope on the conversion of the 1.5 cent options providing medium term cashflow. I thought at the time it was a significant step backwards as most of us here had thrown their hat into the VRB ring. I've trawled through the company website and now can't find that presentation although I do note that a few historic documents have been since removed and others rebranded with the Australian Vanadium logo which was not an entity at the time.
I think Vince should be pumping the VRB grid storage story in Australia for all it's worth immediately. Getting busy with magazine interviews, fronting Maria up for press interviews as the inventor of the technology that is finally 'coming home' to Australia and being reclaimed in the guise of AVL. An Australian invention returning to the nest and finally available to solve our energy issues and disinfect our current 'dirty carbon' reputation that the rest of the world perceives. It's a great story that might hopefully filter through the press to all those regional and provincial council committees and electricity companies who are making tentative steps towards alternative storage solutions. Stir up that jingoism! Pump out pressers and storylines to broadcast media about poor embattled Maria who's invention was swiped from underneath her nose but who has remained resolute and, via AVL, is finding long-deserved recognition. Take the story away from Tesla and make it into an Aussie battler narrative with Australia set to become the word's tecnological leader in renewables.
We should be one of the sponsors of the forthcoming Australian Clean Energy conference in July. Vince should be cosying up to Andrew Vesey at AGL. Maria/Vince should be speakers during the conference's second day.
I'd like to see grid storage being specifically targeted. Produce some hypothetical case studies. Generate data for local communities and councils currently considering alternative energy delivery and regulation. On that note, one thing in the most recent presentation that, again felt like over-egging the pudding, was the picture of what looked like some coastal hotel with a whopping great wind turbine out front servicing a CellCube. I felt that was overkill and can't see what hotel or standalone structure would be willing to invest BOTH in a huge ugly wind turbine on their front door plus a million dollar CellCube. Keep it simple. Why present a scenario that requires a double investment - a wind turbine plus a CellCube? Let's just address situations where storage is key with existing energy delivery. etc etc etc.
You said before that, unlike private companies, listed organisations have no real incentive or demand to deliver quickly. So true. However, if we are now a sales company, without the immediate need for huge chunks of capital to do more drilling, AVL should really be acting like a private company. We might now be a one-man band but there are five working days in a week and seven hours in a working day. I'd like to see the renewable story being sold far harder. It's a great story. It's a story the media are hungry for. And we have a 'theoretically' Australian invention. Let's get AVL at the epicentre of that story.
Those are some of the things I would do. They aren't difficult to achieve; they aren't bounded by the strictures of official ASX announcements; they don't have months' of lead time to put in place. AND, as a happy coincidence, they would probably provide enough fluff to inject some life into the share price so that Vince doesn't have to keep spending his pocket money on options.
This is a fantastic and exciting story. AVL should be at its vanguard, leading the charge, making the news not chasing it.
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